Episode 1811 - Devilish Desserts
The eleventh episode of Season 18 of Hell's Kitchen aired on FOX, on January 11, 2019. On that episode, dessert was the main theme, one team's dysfunction suffered at dinner service, and one chef lost their last chance to stay in the competition. Intro While going back to the dorms, Bret called it nonsense that Trev called himself the most determined chef in the competition, as he himself bled determination. Later, Motto accused Trev about all about being in the glory and not the team, but the latter refused to give up as that would be the biggest insult towards Ramsay. After, Bret told Trev that from now on, there was no more blaming others for mistakes. Team challenge The next day, both teams woke up as Trev did a mock morning news report of the dorms, before Ramsay called the dorms up and told him to bring everybody downstairs. Once downstairs, the chefs saw ice skaters Karolina Calhoun and Collin Brubaker performer a sequence together, but Bret was not interested as he was from South Florida. As they were doing it, Ramsay called ice dancing the most romantic sport in the world, and its closest counterpart in the culinary world was desserts, which both Motto and Bret agreed with. For the Dessert Challenge, both teams had one hour to cook a dessert dish of their liking, and while Motto decided to do a spin of bread pudding, Bret decided to make white chocolate orange cognac arancini balls, irritating Trev as the former kept doing Italian foods, and asked if he was Rocky Balboa. In the blue kitchen, Kanae decided to make a deconstructed tiramisu and wanted to show Ramsay her stuff on desserts, and in the red kitchen, while Trev was confident that his healthy dessert was going to work, Motto thought the former was getting overconfident. In the blue kitchen, Heather had Kanae taste her sauce for the bread pudding dish she was making, and the latter said it had a potent taste of whisky, told her to cook it out, and accused her of being tipsy. Then, Mia discovered her tart shell crumbled on her and decided to deconstruct the dish to salvage it. Eventually, both teams had their dishes cooked and plated on time. Before judging, Ramsay asked the women to sit out one dish as it was going to be a three on three challenge. After a quick discussion, the women agreed to sit out Heather’s due to a poor presentation, and although she did not like it, Kanae didn’t care as she felt it tasted terrible. Valerie Gordon came in as a guest judge, with Bret calling her the creme of the creme of chocolatiers, she and Ramsay would judge each dish on a 1-5 ranking, and the team with the most points at the end would win. Kanae was up first and presented her deconstructed liquido tiramisu over a cherry glaze, but not only was the presentation criticized for looking unfinished, the cherry glaze was criticized for tasting like cough syrup for Gordon. So, Kanae scored 3 points, and she was stunned Gordon was not holding back. After, Motto’s campfire bread pudding was praised for being moist inside, having a great concept, and energizing the dish itself, but criticized for having the milk chocolate muddled in the taste. Due to that, Motto scored 7 points, the score was 7-3 for the men, and Bret felt they got out of the gates strongly. On the second round, Mia’s deconstructed roasted apple and mascarpone tart was criticized for having an aggressive taste of ginger, with Gordon calling the dish muddy , and she scored 4 points as Heather welcomed Mia to the real world where she was imperfect. Then, Bret presented his white chocolate and vanilla arancini balls, but when Ramsay and Gordon cut one open, she said it was al dente, meaning it was raw in the middle. Despite the concept being good, it was a poor experience, and Bret scored only 2 points, much to his dismay, leaving the score 9-7 for the men. On the final round, Ariel was frightened over what Gordon would think of her dish, before presenting her Thai lime and beet tart. It was praised for being yummy, having a smart concept, though Ramsay criticized the plating for looking long winded, and Ariel scored 7 points. After, Trev presented his avocado kisses, but despite being confident that they would well received, Gordon brutally criticized the dish for being everything she hated about healthy eating mixed in desserts, being soggy, and comparing the taste to a bush. So, Trev scored 2 points, and while the women won the challenge 14-11, Kanae felt they dodged a bullet that time, before being thankful that the men were worse than them. Reward The women were rewarded with a $2,000 shopping spree at Sur la Table, along with lunch at Joey Woodland Hills, and while Ariel knew it didn’t feel like a strong victory, she was relieved her 7 won them the challenge. During the reward, the women met up with Sous Chef Jocky who decided to join them, and Ariel felt it would be a good time to get to know him as she was terrified of him at services. While the women talked about the challenge, Heather was still pissed her dish had to sit out, and that she was being disregarded by her teammates, before deciding to get through service as a team until the black jackets came. At Sur la Table, Kanae compared it to being like a kid in a candy store, while Mia commented she never had $500 to spend at one place. However, Heather bought stuff for herself and her son as she missed him. Punishment The men were punished by taking in deliveries of 600 pounds of ice, and properly cutting them into ice cubes for service. As they were dismissed, Trev remarked to Ramsay that he had been in all but one punishment since the competition began, and Motto was disappointed the former and Bret let him down. During the punishment, Marino gave the men directions on how to saw the ice, and while Trev decided to work alone as he did ice breaking before, he and the other two struggled with the task. Later, Trev managed to get a perfect ice cube, but Motto reminded him that one cube was how much he got on the previous challenge. But, when Trev disregarded it as an opinion, Bret got angry by that as Gordon was a well-regarded pastry chef, and that any respect he had for Trev was gone. However, Trev did not care if Bret and Motto hated him as he needed to get to black jackets so he would be by himself, before smashing the ice block with a hammer. Then, Trev commented that the men were not bonding at all as the other two wanted him gone. Before service Later that night, the women returned from their reward, and both teams began prepping for that night’s service. After Sous Chef Christina offered to help the men out as best as she could, Trev asked to speak to her privately as he wanted to investigate more possibilities after the competition, before accusing his teammates of not listening to him. However, neither Bret nor Motto were impressed by that move, while Sous Chef Christina told Trev that they can discuss opportunities after the competition even if he did not win. After, Ramsay gave both teams some last-minute advice, before asking Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen. Dinner service The chef’s tables were booked for that night with Randall Park dining in the blue kitchen, and Malcolm Smith dining in the red kitchen. Before reading off the women’s first order, Ramsay reminded them to go forward instead of backwards. Mia had Ariel taste her risotto as she had a shellfish allergy, but Heather was not sympathetic as Mia should know how to cook a risotto regardless of allergies, and Ariel herself admitted it did not make much sense for two people to go back and forth with one pan. After seeing that, Ramsay decided to put Ariel on risottos and have Mia cook the carbonara, and despite the latter finding it difficult to let go due to her perfectionist attitude, the appetizers were accepted. 45 minutes into service, both teams were able to push out appetizers at a strong pace, and in the red kitchen, the men were moving onto entrées. While Trev was confident about the placing of the men, Bret and Motto did not respond to his questions, much to his annoyance as he compared it to a library. While Bret sent up his halibut, Trev was late on the Wellington and sent up a raw piece. Even worse, Ramsay saw the test version had a better cook on it, told Trev to cook that for one more minute, and berated the men for their insufficient teamwork. While Bret was angry about that, Trev knew that Ramsay was only riding his ass because he wanted to see how well he could bounce back, with the latter urging him to get a grip. In the blue kitchen, the women were onto entrées now, but while Heather was pumped that night, she was concerned about the thickness of the New York striploins, before serving an overcooked serving. When a frustrated Ramsay demanded an explanation for that, Kanae knew that Heather should not blame fish for her mistake as the latter got frustrated as she had been nailing steaks in the previous challenges. In the red kitchen, the men sent up their entrées, but Motto noticed Trev failed to put the crust on the lamb, forcing the latter to bring it back to fix it as he claimed to have never made the lamb before. While Sous Chef Christina told Ramsay what happened, the latter discovered Bret’s halibut looked dirty due to the pan he was cooking on, and a dismayed Motto complained that the men were going nowhere. Then, when Ramsay asked Trev how he forgot the lamb crust, the latter argued that he never did one before and that he forgot, irritating Bret as he should have just said the latter. In the blue kitchen, Heather was struggled on the refire, shocking Ariel as the former was both a veteran and a runner-up, with the latter adding on that Heather would have been fired if that happened in a real kitchen. Despite that, Heather got the refire accepted, despite not resting them, and she compared her feeling to disappointing her parents. One hour and a half into service, Trev served an overcooked portion of lamb, leading to an irritated Ramsay to send the men to the pantry room, berated them for not finding their stride, and called the overcooked lamb the biggest insult. After returning to the kitchen, Bret accused Trev of not taking responsibility and left the confessional cam in anger. In the blue kitchen, Kanae was struggling on the salmon for the chefs table, to the point that she used a spoon to cut open a portion to see the cook on it, annoying Heather as she should have just touched it for that. Then, Kanae sent up a raw salmon, and an irritated Ramsay decided to cook the refire by himself, dismaying Kanae as she was praying for him not to kick the women out that night. In the red kitchen, the men were working on the chefs table, but not only did Bret sent up raw salmon meant for Smith’s 5-month pregnant wife, but the Wellington was broken apart. After showing the men those mistakes, a furious Ramsay sent the men back into the pantry room, berated them for those mistakes, and kicked them out of the kitchen, before asking them for one nominee for elimination. Post-mortem During deliberation, Trev accused Bret’s raw fish to screwing him up that night, there was no communication in the men at all, and accused them of trying to send him home. Indeed, Bret felt Trev should go home as the latter has outstayed his welcome, and believed the latter was crumbling mentally. As Bret and Trev bickered about who performed worse that night, Motto struggled to decide between the two as Bret and Trev held up the team that night, as Bret apologized to his parents through his tattoos, and felt there was a 50/50 percent chance of him going home. Elimination After the men came downstairs, an angry Ramsay said he saw things that night that he could not believe and reminded them about how they served a raw salmon meant for a pregnant woman. Motto admitted it was embarrassing, but when Ramsay asked the men what was happening, Trev said there was no communication from the team, and that he was fighting for a feedback from Motto and Bret. However, both Motto and Bret argued that they did not shut down, which led to another argument that Ramsay used as an example for the women on what he had to deal with that night, before calling the men fragmented beyond belief and lacking any cohesiveness. While Bret admitted to having a subpar performance that night, he felt that Trev was the weakest chef on the men for breaking down days ago, but the latter argued that Bret was a one trick pony for cooking only Italian food. Irritated by that, Ramsay called Bret and Trev down to the front, and during their pleas, Bret said he cooked with his heart and that he has grown stronger every day, but when Ramsay called his performance that night his worst yet, he argued it was subpar at best. Then, Ramsay asked Trev what has happened to him as the men have clearly given up on him, but Trev said they hated him for standing up to them, claimed to have never given up, and that cooking was his life. In the end, Ramsay eliminated Trev for being nominated three times in a row, being on a downward spiral, and the men clearly giving up on him, but before leaving, Ramsay wished him the best of luck. During his exit interview, Trev argued that Bret should have gone home instead, the latter and Motto lacked the passion he had, and that he had to give up his life to come back. After Trev left, Ramsay told Bret that while he received a lifeline, he wanted to see a lot more, and sent him back in line. Then, Ramsay told the women that he would need one volunteer to emerge as a leader and join the men. While being dismissed, Mia felt that she could emerge as a leader, and wanted to use that offer to show Ramsay that, Motto snarkily said bon voyage to Trev, and Bret decided to go against his promise to his daughter to play nice, as being nice was not going to cut it. Ramsay's comment: "Trevor is one of the most passionate chefs I've ever had in Hell's Kitchen. But until he has the support of his brigade, he'll continue to be lost at sea." Category:Episodes Category:Rookies Vs Veterans